Teachers union's anti-testing forum Thursday is for teachers only

View full sizeFourth-grader Jordan Clark works at his desk at North Broad Street Elementary School in Oneida in January.Stephen D. Cannerelli | scannerelli@syracuse.com

As children in the third through eighth grades buckle down to the state's English language arts exam this week, more than 100 area teachers will meet Thursday to speak out against what they see as excessive testing.

The 5:30 p.m. meeting in the Cicero-North Syracuse High School auditorium is the latest in a series of forums held throughout the state by New York State United Teachers in what the union calls a "Tell It Like It Is" tour.

At past meetings, which have been reported on NYSUT's website, some teachers have told horror stories about their students' reactions to testing. A teacher in Westchester said one of her third-graders was so anxious about a test last year that he threw up on his answer sheet, which was then mailed to the state Education Department in a plastic bag. The Education Department has questioned that story.

While the meetings have been chronicled by NYSUT, they are not open to the press or the public, NYSUT spokesman Carl Korn said. Rather, they are private meetings for union members. He said the closed forums allow teachers to feel safe in sharing their concerns.